Abstract:
This product is similar to AIRX2SUP. However, it contains science retrievals that use the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB). Because the HSB instrument lived only from September 2002 through January 2003 when it terminally failed, the data set covers these five months only.

The Support Product includes higher vertical resolution profiles of the quantities found ... in the Standard Product, plus intermediate outputs (e.g., microwave-only retrieval), research products such as the abundance of trace gases, and detailed quality assessment information. The Support Product profiles contain 100 levels between 1100 and .016 mb; this higher resolution will simplify the generation of radiances using forward models, though the vertical information content is no greater than that in the Standard Product profiles.

The intended users of the Support Product are researchers interested in generating forward radiance or in examining research products, and the AIRS algorithm development team. The Support Product will be generated at all locations as Standard Products. An AIRS granule has been set as 6 minutes of data. This will normally correspond to approximately 1/15 of an orbit but exactly 45 scanlines of AMSU-A data or 135 scanlines of AIRS and HSB data.